This may not be news, but when I was browsing through iTunes' menu commands, I spotted New Folder under the File menu. I'd never seen it before; it creates a folder where you can organize playlists in the source list. This is really handy, as I have loads of playlists that are used only to organize music (i.e. one to keep track of newly modified files waiting ot be backed up, what's on my iPod etc.)

I'd just never seen or heard of it before, maybe I'm just behind the times.

[kirkmc adds: This is more of a feature than a hint, but since a lot of people are probably not aware of it, I figured it was worth mentioning. It was added in iTunes 5. However, these folders only appear in iTunes; any playlists they contain get sorted alphabetically one the iPod. So their usage is limited to managing tunes in iTunes, rather than organizing playlists for both iTunes and the iPod.]

I use this a lot! I have several very large playlists (many of them smart playlists) that serve as pools that I use for Party Shuffle. Some examples are kid's music (which includes several genres), grownup music, holiday music, mellow music, jazz (also several genres), etc. I put all of these playlists into a folder called Pools so I do not have to look at them every time I look for other playlists.

Users who were underwhelmed by iTunes Folders when they debuted in iTunes 5 may be interested to know that as of version 6, iTunes folders are "spring-loaded" like Finder folders. In iTunes 5 you could easily drop a song or a playlist into a folder, but not so easily move it into another folder nested within the target folder. (You'd have to click the folder open, then drag the added file to the nested folder, click that folder open, and so on...) With iTunes 6, if you drag a song or playlist onto a folder and hold it there, the folder's contents expand, and you can continue down one or more nested levels to drop the file where you want it.

Another noteworthy feature of folders is that they act as "megaplaylists" that can be sorted or shuffled independently of any playlists they contain. I have a folder that contains playlists for all by Nirvana albums, for example. Highlighting the folder in the Source list displays all my Nirvana tracks in a megaplaylist; I can sort that list by track name, year, etc, or click the shuffle button to play them at random, all without affecting the play order of any of the individual album playlists.

One additional note about managing folders: iTunes will let you give folders and playlists identical names, but it's best to avoid doing so if you use Smart Playlists for filtering. For purposes of creating Smart Playlists, iTunes treats folders as playlists. So if you have a folder called "The Beatles" (for music you didn't buy at the iTMS :-)), and a playlist within it called "The Beatles" (listing contents of the White Album), you'll see two "The Beatles" entries in the Playlist popup when you apply Smart Playlist filter "Playlist... is/is not ...The Beatles." Better in this case to use "Beatles Albums" or similar for the folder name.

So if you have a folder called "The Beatles" (for music you didn't buy at the iTMS :-)), and a playlist within it called "The Beatles" (listing contents of the White Album), you'll see two "The Beatles" entries in the Playlist popup when you apply Smart Playlist filter "Playlist... is/is not ...The Beatles." Better in this case to use "Beatles Albums" or similar for the folder name.

... or you could call the album's playlist "The White Album" or "The Beatles (The White Album)." ;)

If you dislike dragging playlists way at the bottom of your Source list to a folder playlist way at the top of the Source list, or just dragging playlists one at a time to a folder playlist, try the AppleScript Move Playlists to Folder Playlist.

The fact that the iPod sees these folders only as regular playlists, and not hierarchical in any way, is in my opinion a pain in the rear. When this feature first appeared, I was all excited and reorganized many of my playlists hierarchically, in a nested fashion.

For example, I had a folder for my personal playlists, a folder for my wife's, a folder to hold smart playlists related to music organization (newest added, purchased music, licensed vs. unlicensed music, etc.), a separate folder to hold collections of audiobooks arranged by chapter & book, etc. As long as I was using iTunes, it was really handy.

But the next time I synced my iPod, all the playlists and folders were flattened out into one big, long list, which is not useful at all. I basically get a bunch of junk entries in the iPod's list of playlists, which I now have to skip past.

It would be very nice if the iPod treated the folders as true hierarchical folders as well, rather than just playlists. So you could browse your custom folder hierarchy on the iPod as well. But alas, it doesn't work that way.

It's now 5/31/2007 and I have purchased the latest Ipod, 80GB with video support. This is my 1st Ipod and I am experiencing the same unorganized directory/folders with iTunes 7.1.1.5. I was wondering if anyone knows if iTunes has improved this feature to included folder hierachy?

I think Apple is trying to streamline the way music is handled to avoid piracy. . They know it's easier to have a folder hierachy, they know it can be done but yet they do not up software and still many people buy the iPod....

I have 2 weeks to return mine and I am desperately searching and hoping for some way to make this thing sort by folders.......I have tried Rockbox but it seems to have some navigational issues and it does not work with my Pioneer 790Premier Car Stereo